De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

In her latest article in the Catholic Herald , Katherine Bennett pertinently shines a light on the hypocrisy of a culture that rages about the murders of Lucy Letby, a nurse on a children's ward in Chester who attacked at least thirteen infants in her care between June 2015 and June 2016, killing seven of them, while celebrating the murder of unborn children in the same hospital. It is an excellent piece: How did a nurse commit such unthinkable murders? Are they really so unthinkable in a world that considers the killing of a baby with Down’s syndrome a “right”, that calls for abortion on demand up to birth? Are we so blind that we cannot see the lies, the ugliness and the evil that lurks beneath what bubbles up to the surface? How deeply corrupted is a conscience that celebrates both the abolition of the death penalty and the introduction of euthanasia for prisoners, the emancipation of women and the right to self ID, the safeguarding of children and grooming in schools? We are c...

No idea what I'm talking about? Don't worry, you're not alone being in the dark on this one. Yesterday the long dead, infamous Renaissance preacher, Girolamo Savonarola (@FraSavonarola),  self acclaimed denouncer of the exploitation of the poor, tweeted a link to a most shocking story on Twitter: I was incredulous reading the gruesome details of the case. A man who routinely forced women who came to him into labor and then killed their babies. The specifics of the case are seven counts of first degree murder, where it is alleged live babies where born, and then executed with scissors by Gosnell. In addition, A pregnant refugee, Karnamaya Mongar, also died after being given too much anesthesia and pain medication during a 2009 abortion at his West Philadelphia clinic. There are so many things to be upset about this case, not least among them, the fact that if convicted, Gosnell will face the death penalty, a fact which will no doubt cause great discom...

Further to the recent terrible news of the shooting in Colorado at a screening of the new Batman film  there has been a considerable amount of discussion regarding whether the perpetrator, James Holmes, should face the death penalty or not. I became involved in a discussion with some friends, who were adamant that Homes should be killed for what he had done. Certainly I share their disgust at his crimes, but consider the death penalty to be something we do not employ in civilised society. As a Catholic, I also consider it broadly disconsonant with the fundamental dignity of all human life. I also think the Church teaches us that it is a broadly unacceptable course of action today. During the discourse, all kinds of arguments were employed to try and justify recourse to capital punishment, quoting the Council of Trent for example, and suggesting that the teaching of the Church does not change. This is correct of course, the Church's teaching does not change, but it does deve...